Retro Wednesday: Back up your follow up!

December 06, 2011

The other day I was speaking to a financial planning firm about networking and we came upon the topic of follow up.

Following up can be very tricky. If you have a service you provide or if you are trying to get a second meeting, follow up is crucial.

It's often said that you should "Follow up or Fail"

During my speech I was asked by one of the planners what to do if they were following up and not getting any response.

The best tool for solving this problem is a little technique I refer to as backing up your follow up.

If you get a meeting with someone, it's very easy to spend the entire time discussing the service you provide or giving out as much advice as possible and not really getting anything else done. In terms of being able to follow up, this is a lot like climbing a mountain on your own. You'll find the parts of the rock to grab and you'll pull yourself up. If you fall, then you're heading for pain. Chances are you have no way to stop that fall.

When you climb with a partner, that partner helps secure the foot holds in the mountain and also ties you to each part, so that if you happen to slip, the rope will catch you.

The principle is exactly the same with follow up. You want to either:

Get a warm introduction

Make an introduction

Meet the person with a partner

The reason is very simple. When you follow up, if they do not respond, you have someone else you can approach and find out why. You can also get that friend or that person who you made the introduction to to give you feedback on why they are not getting back to you. This can be very valuable when planning for the next time.

So the next time you are about to take a meeting, ask yourself how you're backing up your follow up. It's a long way to the top and it's much safer with a partner.

Excelsior!

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